User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
Simon
a AudioPhile

Date Reviewed: October 17, 2015

Bottom Line:

Bought it in 1999 I think. It already had the volume fix done,and it has been working and playing lika a charm ever since. Been thinking about exchanging it plenty of times but every time I back. If it works, why fix it? Yes there better ones out there, but they cost.

the first one i bought at a garage sale in santa rosa ca for $100 for my store. i bought a pair of bose 301s and mounted them on the wall, plugged the receiver into my computer for cds and streaming and let it rip. fantastic!

i mostly listen to kcsm, kdfc, bbc6, and st. louis hip hop streaming at low volumes, but every once in a while i like to hear it loud with songs like "destroy everything you touch" by ladytron, u2 "pride - in the name of love", or the pixies " into the white". this unit sounds like a friggin jet taking off! awesome. i only wish the speakers were bigger and could handle all the juice inside that big heavy black box.

i was so impressed i bought another one from a little sh*t salesclerk at hollister clothing company in the parking lot of the valley fair mall in santa clara, ca. kid said it worked, and i paid him $100, but it didn't work, and the kid shined me on when i wanted to return it. naughty boy!

sent it to the repair center in sacramento and $175 bucks later it was returned to me ready to rock, and rock it does. this one is hooked up to a panasonic led 42" screen, blue ray, and wall mounted bose 301 speakers in the living room. Volume control through the Blue Ray.

if you find one at a good price and it meets your needs, buy one! you won't be disappointed.

Bought the AVR 500 in college circa 2000 and its been in constant use ever since. I know its gone months without even being turned off. Ive moved across the Western US a few times taking my audio equipment (which also include Infinity Interlude speakers) so I know its rugged. Its been rock solid - no issues whatsoever and still sounds like the day I bought it. I hope to get another 10 years of use out of it at least. Best product investment ever!

I purchased my AVR 500 a little over a year ago knowing full well of the reliability issues. I too encountered the volume problem which was repaired by H/K with a two week delay. I later encountered an issue with the sub pre-out which was fixed by H/K in less than one week. H/K's customer service rep in Canada is a pleasure to deal with.

Since having everything up and running, the system performs exceptionally. Although stereo sound is quite good, the real value of this receiver is in home theatre.

Nice and heavy 35 pound amp. This thing has more than enough power than most normal people need. I got mine for a dirt cheap price, which was a good thing because the left surround channel made a crackling/buzzing noise in all surround modes.I had it sent to H/K for repair. When they sent it back, the problem was still there. After reading some of the negative reviews here, I have concluded that H/K must be getting a little weary of repairing avr 500 lemons.
For the price I paid for this thing, however, I am not too bitter. It sounds fantastic for both music and home theater. The sound is so warm, bass is deep tight powerful, the highs crisp and clean. The ultra-wide bandwidth amplifier can reproduce the drop of a pin to the explosion of a volcano with mind-numbing realism.With its +/- 45 amperes of high instantaneous current capability, it can drive almost any speaker effortlesly. I was watching "Twister" on DVD down in my den with a pair of 200 watt towers. I turned the volume to max, and was amazed with how it controlled the speaker drivers from distorting with its high-current power. With a receiver so powerful, it seems a waste of its endless power to use just bookshelfs and a sub, although it can make my Paradigm Titans sound like they are subwoofers. That is the beauty of high-current. It actually protects your speaker drivers from damage at high volumes.
I laugh at people who say it needs more power. This thing can pump 70 watts of continuous average power into your speakers.Most of the time only about 15 to 20 watts are being powered into your speakers at any given time with a receiver. But with this 70 continuous high-current watts, there is an enormous headroom for things like explosions gubshots, sudden loud sounds etc, that draw extra power. The peak power of this receiver is easily 250 to 300 watts with all channels driven: It chews up and spits out most budget amps, who can only muster a brief 100 watt spike a 1khz while driving a single channel.
The high-current power also allows for use with power sapping low impedance speakers. With lower resistance in a speaker, more current rushes to it, straining the power supply of the receiver. But as we know, the h/k avr 500 has plenty of power and curent to back it up, so low impedance isn't much of a problem.
I think its a good idea to use at least 12 gauge speaker cable. Perhaps many of the problems with overheating that some people were having could have been in part due to using very thin gauge cable, which stifles the receiver's ability to pump out current to the speakers, and causes it to run very hot after a short while.
The clicking sound on the volume adjustment that so many people are crying about doesn't bother me much, but I do agree the remote could be better.
Initially I had all my speakers set to "LARGE." But I discovered that when I changed the setting on the surround speakers to "SMALL" and kept the rest of the speakers on "LARGE", there was a sudden and dramatic increase in volume from the receiver. I was watching Fight Club at the time, in Doly Digital, during the car crash scene when I discovered this, and I have since discovered that the increase in volume works in all surround modes.
I also have a piece of advice for people who are using large mains with no subwoofer. When you watch movies or listen to music in Dolby Pro logic mode, put the center channel setting to small and you will notice a huge response in bass from the mains, because frequencies below 90 hz will be fed to them. This goes for a lot of receivers. I always set my center to "SMALL" in spite of its size, because all it really takes care of is dialogue, which doesn't need much bass.
I can't say I really recomend this receiver, But I think the avr 520 looks like a real killer, judging by the reviews on this site. As I type this, the 525 has just been released. It has full bass mangement on all 7 speakers.